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A volunteer nurse in the Civil War: the diary of Harriet Douglas Whetten

Library of Congress
Converted ferryboat on the Pamunkey River in northern Virginia. Vessels
of this type were employed by the Sanitary Commission and by McClellan's
army as well.
A VOLUNTEER NURSE IN THE CIVIL WAR:
The Diary of Harriet Douglas Whetten
Edited By Paul H. Hass
THE bright prospects of spring had dimmed.
The Confederate flag still flew over the
brazen spires of Richmond, and General
George B. McClellan's grand offensive in Virginia had ended on the shell-torn fields of the
Seven Days. By July 4, 1862, the Union army
had fallen back to Harrison's Landing on the
James River, its flanks protected by armored
gunboats and its vast artillery train massed
for the next enemy assault. But there was no
further Confederate assault; both armies
camped in the fierce midsummer heat to count
their losses and to bury their dead.
In the backwash of war, there was much
work for the volunteers of the United States
Sanitary Commission. In the space of a week,
McClellan had suffered more than 12,000
casualties, and for a few days after the fighting ended it appeared that perhaps the fortunate ones were those who lay in the shallow
graves which marked the lines of his advance
and retreat. The tangled gloom of White Oak
Swamp, the brackish waters of a hundred
winding creeks, and the hot, dirty business
of marching and fighting had all taken their
toll; as the troops straggled onto the broad
plain at Harrison's Landing they walked stiffly
and glassy-eyed, their clothes ragged and their
faces gaunt and sunburned. Thousands lay
sick with malaria, chronic dysentery, untend-
ed wounds, or simple exhaustion. If McClellan's army was not to dissolve in sickness and
despair, the casualties would have to be treated and evacuated to hospitals in the North.
TTARRIET DOUGLAS WHETTEN, a vol-
■*■-*■ unteer nurse in the Sanitary Commission's hospital transport service, recorded the
last days of the Peninsular campaign in a
slim, hardbound diary which now resides in
the Manuscripts Library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Like Miss Whet-
ten's letters* (published in the preceding issue
of the Magazine), her diary presents a vivid
*"A Volunteer Nurse in the Civil War: The
Letters of Harriet Douglas Whetten," in the Wisconsin Magazine of History, 48:131-151 (Winter, 1964-
1965).
205

A volunteer nurse in the Civil War: the diary of Harriet Douglas Whetten

Source Title

A volunteer nurse in the Civil War: the diary of Harriet Douglas Whetten

Author/Creator

Whetten, Harriet Douglas

Description

A Volunteer Nurse in the Civil War: The Diary of Harriet Douglas Whetten: This second installment of the letters of Civil War nurse, Harriet Douglas Whetten (b. ca. 1822), offers insight into the experience of a woman working with the Civil War's wounded. The letters date from the summer months of 1862 and were written on one of the Sanitary Commissions transport ships, traveling mostly in and around the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. (17 pages)

Subcollection

Letters;

Source

Wisconsin magazine of history: Volume 48, number 3, spring, 1965

Source Type

letter;

Place of Publication

Madison, Wis.

Source Creation Date

State Historical Society of Wisconsin

Source Publisher

1965

Publisher-Electronic

Wisconsin Historical Society

Publication Date-Electronic

2007

Rights

We believe that online reproduction of this material is permitted because its copyright protection has lapsed or because sharing it here for non-profit educational purposes complies with the Fair Use provisions of the U.S. Copyright Law. Teachers and students are generally free to reproduce pages for nonprofit classroom use. For advice about other uses, or if you believe that you possess copyright to some of this material, please contact us at asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org. Images on pages 205, 206, 207, 209, 212 and 217 are from the Library of Congress, Civil War glass negative collection. Image on p. 236 courtesy of Library and Archives Canada/Frances Anne Hopkins fonds/R5556-0-8-E/C-002771 Publication Date-Electronic2007

A volunteer nurse in the Civil War: the diary of Harriet Douglas Whetten

Event Date

1862-07-04

Year

1862

Month

July

Day

4

State

VA

Place

Harrison's Landing; James River

People

Whetten, Harriet Douglas; McClellan, George B. (Gen.)

Topic

aftermath;casualties

Author/Creator

Whetten, Harriet Douglas

Source Type

letter; image;

Publisher-Electronic

Wisconsin Historical Society

Publication Date-Electronic

2007

Rights

We believe that online reproduction of this material is permitted because its copyright protection has lapsed or because sharing it here for non-profit educational purposes complies with the Fair Use provisions of the U.S. Copyright Law. Teachers and students are generally free to reproduce pages for nonprofit classroom use. For advice about other uses, or if you believe that you possess copyright to some of this material, please contact us at asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org. Images on pages 205, 206, 207, 209, 212 and 217 are from the Library of Congress, Civil War glass negative collection. Image on p. 236 courtesy of Library and Archives Canada/Frances Anne Hopkins fonds/R5556-0-8-E/C-002771 Publication Date-Electronic2007

Digital Format

JPG

Full text

Library of Congress
Converted ferryboat on the Pamunkey River in northern Virginia. Vessels
of this type were employed by the Sanitary Commission and by McClellan's
army as well.
A VOLUNTEER NURSE IN THE CIVIL WAR:
The Diary of Harriet Douglas Whetten
Edited By Paul H. Hass
THE bright prospects of spring had dimmed.
The Confederate flag still flew over the
brazen spires of Richmond, and General
George B. McClellan's grand offensive in Virginia had ended on the shell-torn fields of the
Seven Days. By July 4, 1862, the Union army
had fallen back to Harrison's Landing on the
James River, its flanks protected by armored
gunboats and its vast artillery train massed
for the next enemy assault. But there was no
further Confederate assault; both armies
camped in the fierce midsummer heat to count
their losses and to bury their dead.
In the backwash of war, there was much
work for the volunteers of the United States
Sanitary Commission. In the space of a week,
McClellan had suffered more than 12,000
casualties, and for a few days after the fighting ended it appeared that perhaps the fortunate ones were those who lay in the shallow
graves which marked the lines of his advance
and retreat. The tangled gloom of White Oak
Swamp, the brackish waters of a hundred
winding creeks, and the hot, dirty business
of marching and fighting had all taken their
toll; as the troops straggled onto the broad
plain at Harrison's Landing they walked stiffly
and glassy-eyed, their clothes ragged and their
faces gaunt and sunburned. Thousands lay
sick with malaria, chronic dysentery, untend-
ed wounds, or simple exhaustion. If McClellan's army was not to dissolve in sickness and
despair, the casualties would have to be treated and evacuated to hospitals in the North.
TTARRIET DOUGLAS WHETTEN, a vol-
■*■-*■ unteer nurse in the Sanitary Commission's hospital transport service, recorded the
last days of the Peninsular campaign in a
slim, hardbound diary which now resides in
the Manuscripts Library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Like Miss Whet-
ten's letters* (published in the preceding issue
of the Magazine), her diary presents a vivid
*"A Volunteer Nurse in the Civil War: The
Letters of Harriet Douglas Whetten" in the Wisconsin Magazine of History, 48:131-151 (Winter, 1964-
1965).
205